Shipping-package for lobsters.



.F. B. HIGGINS.

SHIPPING PACKAGE FOR LOBSTERS.

APPLIOA'IION FILED JULY 14, 1910.

1,016,627. Patent ed Feb. 6, 1912.

i r i ////V/ o a x l V/ TNES'SE'S UNITED STATES FRED B. HIGGINS, OF BOOTHBAY- HARBOR, MAINE, ASSIGNOR OF BOOTHBAY HARBOR, 'MAINE, A CORPORATION PATENT OFFICE.

TO FRED B. HIGGINS 00.,

or MAINE.

SHIPPING-PACKAGE FOR LOBSTERS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 6,1912.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, FRED B. HIGGINS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Boothbay Harbor, county of- Lincoln, State of Maine, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Shipping-Packages for Lobsters, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to the packing and shipment of such crustaceans as lobsters, and particularly to a shipping package for the transportation of living lobsters to points at a considerable distance.

The demand throughout the country for live lobsters and the comparatively limited areas in which lobsters are normally available in this condition has created a great demand for some means of transporting them under conditions which will not only cause them to be delivered alive, but, to be delivered in a healthy and normal state. One of the difficulties in thus transporting lobsters has been in finding some means for packing them so that they should remain in substantially the same position during shipment. As it is necessary to employ ice in shipment the matter is still further complicated, especially where the ice is in direct contact with the lobsters, as the melting of the ice causes of necessity a shrinking in the bulk of the pack which adds to the general settling of the lobsters, due to the shaking down which occurs in travel.

It is the object of the present invention, therefore, to provide for the packing of lobsters in such a way that this settling of the pack will occur without disarranging the order in which the lobsters are laid or in disturbing their relative position.

It is to be understood that it is only possible to secure the delivery of lobsters in perfectly satisfactory condition when they are transported in substantially undisturbed position, because the disordering of the pack not only affects the vitality of the lobster and is apt to bruise or mutilate it, but, is liable also to free the claws and permit the attack of those thus freed upon those unable to defend themselves which results in the further mutilation of the shipment.

I accomplish the ends sought by an arrangement of a refrigerating core in such a manner that the settling of the lobsters and sea-weed merely tends to more firmly consolidate the lobsters in their original arrangement. This and various other details of the construction of my shipping case will be more fully described in the specification which follows. In that specification I have shown as an illustrative embodiment a case and manner of packing which I have found satisfactory in practical use. In the drawings I have shown this embodiment and throughout specification and drawings I have made reference to like parts by numerals uniformly applied,

In the drawings :Figure 1 is a sectional vertical section throughmy case, and Fig. 2 is a plan view with the cover partly broken away to expose the interior of the package.

The vessel 1 may be of any .desired construction, that shown and preferred being a tub-like structure of hooped staves having a lid or cover 2 hinged at 3 and provided with a suitable hasp 4 which may be fastened by a seal or other means, as at 5.

The bottom of the tub 6 is perforated as p at 7 in order that the tub may be suitably drained. The bottom 6 is set well above the ends of the staves so as to be supported above the floor or ground upon which the tub may rest. The staves are provided with suitable openings 8 to afford ventilation and within the tub a tube 9 is set passing through the bottom 6 and rising almost up to the cover 2, being left sufficient space, however, so that the top of the tube 9 will always be open.

Centrally of the tub 1 is set a refrigerat-' ing medium 10. This medium is preferably the core of ice, frozen or sawed into the form of a truncated pyramid, or a truncated cone. I have shown a truncated pyramid as in northern latitudes it is found more economical to saw this core from the block, rat-her than to freeze it in a mold. This core is formed with a substantial taper and around it the lobsters are packed in layers 11 with interposed layers of packing such as seaweed 12. All settling in the package, therefore, must be downward between the inclined walls of the refrigerating medium 10 ,and the sides of the cask 1. The pack is, therefore, substantially uniform at all times. With the ice core as described directly in contact with the lobsters there is, of course, a diminution of the core, but, as these cores melt with substantial uniformity their symmetry is preserved and in settling the layers are found in substantially the same. condition upondelivery, even after .a week of travel, as whenpacked. .It will, therefore, be seen that by my invention I am able to use the direct presence of ice which is most desirable as it maintains not only the proper temperature b t supplies the moisture which is necessary to the maintenance of the proper condition of the lobsters. The air within my package is, furthermore, prevented from becoming dead and heated at the top byreason of the vent 9 through which the closed top is relieved, thus afiording a slight circulation through the openings 8 and 7 and upward through the pack.

What I, therefore, claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1- A shipping package of live lobsters comprising a container, a central tapered ice core, a plurality of layers of lobsters surrounding and laid about said core and spaced apart by a suitable packing, whereby as the ice core diminishes and the layers of lobsters settle, said lobsters will still continue to be held snugly against relative movement.

In testimony whereof, I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

. v FRED B. HIGGINS. Witnesses:

AUGUSTUS A. PERRY, ARTHUR H. S'rE'rsoN. 

